New Ulm weekly review., 1887-09-28
Tale.Pereussion Shells.

Randall, said the colonel OF ar
tillery. to the red-saced young man be-
fore him., these are what I wish to
have delivered first You must exer-
else great care inhandllng them. They
do not.go,off too easily, but a smart
tap right here will explode them"
His>inger was ON Jnenose ola three
inch percussiou shell as he spoke. It
was asvefy neatly finished affair, OF a
new pattern, from which important
results-were expected by artillerists.
The shells We're to explode on striking.
and scatter everything in 'front.' Of
them In a. thoroughly scientific man
ner.
"AiI right, sir,'' said Randall.
"We'll get them out on the levee as
fast as we. can, and the ammunition
wagons can come for them"
"I'll not send any until you report a
sufficient number of shells ready for
transportation
"All right, SIR" said Randall, as he
touched his hat and marched out of
the coloBseps quarters; but he added
to himself:
They're a little the worst-looking
deathrmaehines ever saw. I shall
be glad when the last of them is on.
the levee.''
He was mate of one of the smaller
iron-clad, turtle back gunboats of
the Mississippi squadron, and had
been detailed in charge Of an ammunSS-
tion barge or "powder-boat." Sne
had been towed down the river with a
Full cargo, and now lay with her head
against the levee at the ''powder
landing" between three and four
miles above Memphis.
1t was early in the fourth year OF
the civil war, and it was we'll under.
stood that great deal OF anamuni.
tion would yet be required.
An hour or so later Randall stood
at his post upon the stern OF the barge
watching a score OF sroustabouts,"
who were going and coming, busily
| employed in removing the percussion
shells called for by the colonel.
Every man of them was deeply i'm
pressed with the solemnity OF the work
he was doing, and was visibly afraid
o. each burden he brought up from the
hold Of the barge. All the customary
shouting and singing had subsidized into
a beftting gravity. There were no loung
ers on the levee, for the sentries post.
ed at suitable distances prevented the
approach OF unauthorized persons.
No craft OF any sort was moored near
the barge which contained so many
tons of compressed powder and peril.
The ridge of the fevee was many feet
above the river level, and was already
lined with the terrible cylinders, whose
yet undimmed copper glistened in the
sunshine.
NEARLY DONE" said Randall, aloud,
''and I'm glad of it. Can't say I've
any nerves to speak OF, but I'd rather
move hundred loads OF mere powder
or ordinary shell. I don't like those
| things"
| He glanced down at the muddy tor
rent OF the Mississippi, rushing by in
mill race haste, and added:
'pd be safer in the middle oftheriv-
er than I am here"
He was undoubtly a. man OF cour.
age and his nerves were such as fitted
him for his present duty, but he was
unable to put away from him strong
sense of the lonely peril of his post.
Neither could he avoid a kind ofvague
calculation OF the enormous destruct-
i've forces chained In the cargo con-
cealed by the deck he stood upon.
Tramp, tramp, tramp, with SOM
! Der steadiness, the athletic "roust-
abouts" went dowu the companion
way, or came up again, each at re-
| turn, bearing one more of the new ex-
| plOsives. These did not make an un-
duly heavy shoulder-load, and there
was no apparent danger of an acci-
dent. The veteran artillervman down
in the hold, who superintended the
picking up and the shouldering, had
been ceaseless in his admonitions, and
every shell had been lifted with clear
understanding that, as one "roust-
| about" expressed it:
"Ef | should sneeze, de she'll would
| take dat advantage and 60 off"
A transport steamer, coming down
| the river, seemed to sheer away from
the powder landing" as if it were a
| place to be stunned; and Randall
may have been justified in asserting
| that:
Ihe gulls ny high over 1T, and even
the buzzards wouldn't light on dead
mule if he lay on this levee. It's
dreary work.
So it was, and without extra pay or
honor, except for the ''neustatouts." F."
who received double wages. They
We're all picked men, and as we'll fitted
for thatservice as any white men, but
the colonel of artillery had remarked OF
them:
"Pd rather lose them than as many
volunteers if anything should hap
pen"
All war material, human or other,
has its assignable value when the ques-
tion OF its expenditure has to be rails
ed. Even a commanding general
knows what regiment he can best af-
ford to report as part of the price
paid for victory. The colonel did
not put any estimate upon Randall
or the old artilleryman down in the
hold of the barge.